Danger begins when guns amnesty runs out

An Australian soldier talks to Guadalcanal islanders. Photo: Kate Geraghty

Australian police and military personnel in the Solomon Islands would be in more danger when a gun amnesty expired later this month, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, warned yesterday.

The "exuberance" that had marked the early stages of the Australian-led mission to restore law and order in the islands might change when the amnesty ended on August 21, he said.

Mr Downer told Channel Ten: "I would imagine that there will still be some number [of weapons] out there, and that will be the difficult part, when the operation has to go after the weapons that are still out there in the community. Not only will it be difficult, it will be dangerous."

The Prime Minister, John Howard, said on Saturday that the deployment had been a reminder "of our own leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region", although Mr Downer yesterday played down the possibility of forces embarking on another Solomon Islands-style intervention in the region.

However, he said Papua New Guinea was confronting "some difficult issues at the moment" and that the Government was reviewing its $300 million a year foreign aid contribution to the country.

"I am not entirely satisfied that we are getting the best value for money from our aid program," he said.

Mr Downer rejected the suggestion that Australia's foreign aid to Asia-Pacific countries should be made conditional on efforts to root out corruption and terrorism.

"We want our aid program to concentrate more on governance issues in order to help clean up these problems. But let us not exaggerate this - it is enormously difficult to clean up a problem . . . It will take a long period of time."